Students serve during spring break
In terms of popular spring break destinations, South Dakota might not make the list, but that’s exactly where some Cornell College students will be headed next week—to serve.
The Cornell College Civic Engagement Office Alternative Spring Break program will be sending a group of Cornell students to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The program brings together a students to spend their week-long break engaging in meaningful service projects in diverse areas outside of Iowa. In addition to Pine Ridge, student volunteers will be traveling to Atlanta, Georgia and Apalachicola, Florida to participate in community service during their spring break, March 26-April 2.
Junior Kirtley Hitt is the Alternative Spring Break coordinator, and an advocate for participating in service trips after going on two alternative breaks herself. “[Alternative Spring Breaks] allow you to help others, reach out, and connect with issues that are often ignored by the vast majority of individuals in their everyday lives,” explained Hitt. This spring, 14 students will be working on projects related to environmental preservation in the Florida Trails, 11 students will work with at-risk youth in inner city Atlanta, and 19 students going to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota will address rural poverty and Native American issues.
Hitt, as well as other Alternative Spring Break participants, said that in just a week, students learn from their experiences and gain significant knowledge about problems and potential solutions from first-hand encounters. These students leave the host site with a closer connection to the cause, better understanding of the social issues they came across, and stronger desire to make a positive impact back in their home community through volunteerism.
Regions of the U.S. in need of assistance receive the helping hands of service-minded college students through organizations like Cornell’s Alternative Spring Break. The benefits don’t stop there; students gain beneficial skills and an understanding of current issues from ASB trips. These acquisitions vary among participants based on their backgrounds, prior experiences, and what was encountered during their service trip. “I think this is one of the really neat aspects of alternative breaks,” Hitt mentions, “take twelve people on a trip and they all come away with something different.”
